


King of the World

by shyv2rxrxr (hexburn)



Category: League of Legends RPF
Genre: Bad Puns, Contemplative, Implied Relationships, M/M, River Imagery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 15:14:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20391772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hexburn/pseuds/shyv2rxrxr
Summary: Detroit is just one more city to add to the kingdom, but what's a king without his crown?





	King of the World

**Author's Note:**

> posted before the TL vs. C9 2019 Summer Finals.  
go TL!  
based on this fanart on the Doublelift Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/doublelift/comments/cteqnn/doublelift_and_corejj/

“Damn. Look at this place,” Peter murmurs to himself, standing on the overlook to the windy beach and the strait. Well, it’s a murmur for Peter at least, Yong-in thinks. But just that slight weakening in his volume tells Yong-in everything about how awed Peter is in this moment.

And how nervous.

Yong-in really wishes he knew all the right words to soothe Peter’s nerves right now and to reassure him that the curse of four won’t be a curse at all this time - it blessed them at MSI, right? But he doesn’t know what to say to make Peter feel better. He doesn’t have the words.

At least he still has the actions.

The overlook is steep and sharp, more like a balcony rather than a natural viewing spot, made of concrete and white-coated metal bars. It’s too human, too garishly man-made to offer much in the way of comfort, but at the very least it brings them closer to the water below and the powerful wind above, and it was the only place that they could get to quickly. 

“This is crazy, dude!” Peter says, overexcited. Yong-in doesn’t mind, but maybe the additional peace of the beach itself is more necessary than he had first thought.

“Very windy,” Yong-in replies, and he scrunches up his face to keep his wildly whipping hair from getting into his eyes. “Beach is probably windier, should we go?”

It’s fairly empty when they get there, all the potential swimmers scared away by the water whipped up into foamy white waves by the winds, and the overcast skies combined with a fierce gale means that the beach isn’t warm at all, so they have the place all to themselves, or at least a good 50-metre stretch of it. Immediately, Peter rushes to the water, taking off his shoes and socks and rolling up his sweatpant legs along the way. He runs in happily, while Yong-in follows suit much more slowly and orderly. When his toes are in the water, he looks back behind him. His socks are neatly tucked into his shoes, both of which are nestled in a natural dip in the sand, and Peter’s items are strewn about where his footprints lie in the sand.

Oh, Peter.

But Yong-in joins him anyway, and plays with the small waves that wash over his ankles happily. He scoops up some of the water in his hands and holds it out to Peter.

“Us.”

“What?”

“Liquid.”

Peter stands stunned for a second, but quickly dissolves into laughter at the absurdity of it, and so does Yong-in, letting the water slip between his fingers with a splash. Good, Peter feels better now.

When the laughs subside, Yong-in continues.

“This,” he says, waving an arm out over the wide open river, “is yours.”

“What, because of the water?”

“No. Your kingdom,” Yong-in says firmly. “Detroit. Your kingdom.”

Peter doesn’t say anything for a while after that; he just watches the water rush by, and Yong-in lets the silence speak for what his words will not.

“New York,” he says at last, “Toronto. Boston. Miami Beach. Oakland. St Louis.”

“Detroit,” they both finish simultaneously.

A flock of seagulls circles overhead. Their calls fill the silence with meaningless chatter, and for that, Yong-in is grateful, that they pass the time without filling in his careful house-of-cards conversation with useless fluff.

“You know,” Peter says quietly, after the seagulls' cries have faded in and out, “it’s your kingdom, too. Detroit,” he clarifies, “and St Louis, too.”

Yong-in doesn’t say a thing. There are plenty of sounds here to plug the gaps in their dialogue, from the wind to the waves to the wavering caws in the distance, and in any case, he wouldn’t mind letting the gaps stay present. He’s long since learned the value and sweetness that one can find between words.

“No,” he murmurs. Well, it’s a murmur compared to the white noise around them. “No,” he repeats, “my kingdom is not here. It is not St Louis or Detroit.”

For once, Peter waits. Yong-in can tell by the way he gazes into the distance that he’s thinking about something, thinking long and hard. “Then where?” he asks, voicing the matter in his head.

Yong-in smiles, his eyes seeking a star, but not a star in the sky - rather, a star on an ear on a man who is very, very far away. “Los Angeles.”

“Why?” asks Peter, truly quiet.

“I cannot be a king without a Crown.”

The teacher is pleased when his lesson of simplicity reaches the student. Peter does not try to add on pointless words to his statement and remains quiet for a few moments.

But as ever, Peter is surprising. “Fly him here,” he says, legs shivering in the water from the chill and his newfound excitement, “Bring him here! There’s got to be flights in time, get him a ticket, let him watch!”

Yong-in’s eyes widen slightly. Ah, his student is a brave one, and clueless, but intelligent.

“Let him watch you win!”

“I’ll ask him,”  _ smart idea, _ Yong-in almost adds, but Peter has already moved on to a new train of thought, the cities in his past looking just like the one he aims to conquer in the near future.

“He’s your good-luck charm, man! You’ve got the crown and we’ll make the kingdom!”

Only by slim margins does Yong-in prevent himself from rolling his eyes, but Peter is excited, and barrels on.

“We’re gonna take it! We’re gonna win this thing! This is our  _ fucking  _ kingdom, Core!” he shouts, and he grabs Yong-in’s hand and raises it high in the air, victorious. “Our kingdom!”

Yong-in sighs softly, dreaming of a star.

He watches his ADC cheer like all his worries have drained away, and he smiles.


End file.
